Friday, March 30, 2007

Fire and watercolors...

Had lunch outside today on DCP's Commisary patio with John Quinn, Jennifer Long and Eric Hutchison. While we were eating, the hills of Hollywood were burning in the distance. Another thing burning itself into existence, was one of John Quinn's latest watercolor sketches. John's got a great rendering technique that doesn't look labored, and he inspired me to make a quick watercolor cartoon that didn't look like gouache and didn't have that over-worked magic marker look to it. Thanks for the inspiration, John.

I've also been inspired by a new book I just recieved: "Halas & Batchelor Cartoons" by Vivien Halas and Paul Wells. I'm still skimming through it and looking at the visuals, but I hope to start reading it in a day or two. I've been curious about this studio since seeing stills of Animal Farm in the early '70s.

Thanks guys. I'm trying really hard to break the "marker habit" by switching to watercolors, gouach, acrylics or color pencil. I'm trying to do a new sketch every day for the next month or so. Maybe it'll help me detox the marker fumes.